


The Waters are Rising

by midoriverte



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Gen, Hideweek, Hospitals, Illness/injury, hide week day 6: life, mentions of scarring, slight implied hidekane, some spoilers up to chapter 126 of re
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 16:56:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11166102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midoriverte/pseuds/midoriverte
Summary: After spending so much time working and waiting to see Kaneki again, Hide has to face the fact that he may not live to see him again.





	The Waters are Rising

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the mysterious (and sketchy) medicine they've been talking about in Re lately.
> 
> Beta'd by sondeneige

Hide collapsed on the floor, his breath coming in gasps as he struggled to get air into his lungs. His shaking limbs managed to just barely support his weight as he knelt on his hands and knees, his face on the cold stone floor as if it would somehow soothe him. 

 

Eto waited until he had caught his breath somewhat before she spoke. 

 

“You can’t go on like this.” To someone who did not know her as well as Hide did, this may have come off as genuine concern. Instead, Hide smiled a humourless smile, hearing the boredom and amusement in her voice as she started on a speech he had heard countless times before. 

 

“Your human body isn’t going to be able to keep up with this.”

 

“I’m not…,” he struggled to take in a breath. “Going to...Kanou...”

 

He didn’t bother to hide the tears of pain that sprung to his eyes with the effort of speaking, and Eto did not bother to comment on them. 

 

“I’m not talking about Kanou,” she said, sitting down in front of Hide and crossing her legs. “I’m talking about the medicine-”

 

“No,” Hide said, so firmly that it surprised both of them. 

 

Eto surveyed him coolly for a moment before saying, “You know, I understand your objection to Kanou, but it’s not like the medicine makes you not human anymore.”

 

Hide didn’t have the strength left to say “easy for you to say”, but from the look Eto gave him, she knew what he was thinking. 

 

“Suit yourself,” she shrugged. “I just hope you don’t die before he can see you again.”

 

Hide stiffened, and Eto smiled.

 

“Don’t tell me the thought hasn’t crossed your mind.”

 

Hide lowered his head to the cool ground once more. He just wanted to be left alone. 

 

He tried his best to rest for the next few days, but it seemed no matter how much he got his body could not recover. Within five days, his body was filled with the familiar pain and burning heat of an infection. 

 

Eto looked at him with distaste as she watched him writhe and shiver from the fever on the rusty camp cot he called a bed. 

 

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

 

“Th-thought I… could-”

 

“Thought you could fight it off this time?” Eto’s disdain for him dripped from every syllable. “I’ve told you before that you’re too weak.”

 

Hide didn’t bother to respond. 

 

“You’ll have to go the hospital again,” she said. “How many times do you think you can go before they start to get suspicious?”

 

Both of them knew they already were. 

 

Hide’s muscles began to spasm, and he stopped listening to Eto as she went on about how stupid he was.

 

“The only medicine we have that can help you, you refuse to take-”

 

Hide remembered, as vividly as though he was reliving the moment, sitting in a movie theatre with Kaneki when they couldn’t have been any older than nine.

 

_ From the moment the blood touches your lips, you will live but a half life, a cursed life. _

 

Hide thought Kaneki might have been scared by the images on the screen, the wraithlike creature slaying a unicorn in a forest, but Kaneki already knew what was coming after reading the books, and stared at the screen in rapt attention. 

 

He wondered why he would think of this moment now, of all times.

 

Hide tried to force himself back to consciousness, but his head was swimming and he was sure his eyes were open but he couldn’t  _ see _ anything-

 

A long dark tunnel, filled with dirty water, his best friend writhing with a misery Hide didn’t think he could comprehend even now.

 

Teeth embedded in his shoulder, his throat, crushing his windpipe so he could not breathe-

 

A slap around his face snapped him out of it. 

 

“Stop screaming, you idiot,” Eto snapped. “Do you want to give away where we are?”

 

Hide hadn’t been aware he was screaming. 

****

 

When he woke up, it was suddenly, with the feeling that he hadn’t rested at all. 

 

It took more than a few minutes for him to fully understand he was in a hospital bed, and many more for his brain to remember what had landed him there. 

 

He groaned. His body felt like it was made of straw. He couldn’t even move his arms to press the help button, so he decided to just wait until someone came for him. 

 

He recognized the doctor, though he couldn’t remember her name. Her mouth was set in a grim frown as she looked at him. 

 

He knew what she would say already. He needed to take it easy due to the permanent injuries his trachea had sustained, physical exertion was a bad idea when he couldn’t breathe properly. His body was too weak now to fight off infections, and his activities (god, if only she knew) left him exposed to the risk of new wounds. 

 

“I don’t know what you’re doing to keep ending back up in here,” she concluded. “But if you keep it up much longer I doubt you’ll be able to do it again.”

 

The part of Hide that still had a sense of humour wanted to point out that what she had said hadn’t entirely made sense, but he just nodded, feeling as grim as she looked. 

 

_ I hope you don’t die before he can see you again. _

 

He waited until she left before he closed his eyes, fighting against the tears that threatened to spill. 

 

He had wanted to believe he had more fight left in him than this, but he knew the doctor and Eto were right. He could  _ feel  _ that his body was spent. 

 

He thought of Kaneki, of the torture he knew he had endured, and he finally let a tear trickle down his cheek.  Kaneki had been through so much worse than this, and Hide was too weak to keep up. 

 

_ No wonder he left you behind _ . 

 

He knew now that he didn’t have a choice. If he wanted to see Kaneki again, there was only one thing to do. 

 

He had already sacrificed so much for Kaneki. His freedom. His voice. What was his humanity too? 

 

He had his answer already. It was nothing. 

 

He had no one to come get him from the hospital (it wasn’t like Eto could just stroll in), so he had to wait until he was well enough to be let out on his own. 

 

It was a while before he was allowed out. 

 

He ran a hand through his hair. It felt dirty and way too long. He supposed he should get it cut, though he didn’t really care what it looked like these days. 

 

He ducked into a public bathroom, suddenly overcome with the impulse to clean himself up a bit. 

 

He turned the tap and splashed the ice cold water onto his face, at least it woke him up a little. He didn’t have time to be tired, he had already been gone too long, he had work to do. 

 

He felt the exhaustion as though it was it was a physical weight, holding him down, making his every movement an effort. 

 

This was for Kaneki, everything was for Kaneki. 

 

The thought of Kaneki usually gave him strength, now it just filled him with a physical ache. He was failing Kaneki, he was too weak, he’d never be able to see him again-

 

Hide usually avoided looking in mirrors, but he couldn’t help but glance at the dirty mirror hanging above the sink. 

 

There was no polite way to say it, he looked terrible. His skin was pale and grey and he had lost so much weight that his eyes looked sunken and hollow. He had allowed his hair to grow back to its natural dark brown colour, but it looked lifeless, stringy and dull. 

 

At least with his hair this long, he could partially hide the scar that covered half his face. 

 

When he next stood before Eto, it was with a fresh, if grim, resolve. 

 

Even as he felt his hands tremble, he knew there was no other choice. 

 

He would do anything, anything for Kaneki. 

 

“I’ll take the medicine,” he said. 

 

Eto grinned and Hide felt a chill go up his spine. 

 

“I was hoping to hear you say that,” she said and Hide grimaced. 

 

That was what he had been so afraid of. 


End file.
